"With cold ferocity and ostentatious prejudice": Persecution at the University and Polytechnic of Turin
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“With cold ferocity and ostentatious prejudice”:
Persecution at the University and Polytechnic of Turin
Valeria Graffone*
Abstract. “With cold ferocity and ostentatious prejudice”, a quote from Primo Levi, a student of “Jewish race” at the
University of Turin, which, in essence, presents the violence and the absolute unreasonableness of the measures
undertaken in 1938 to expel Jews – professors, students, technical and administrative personnel – from the University
and the Polytechnic of Turin. To recount the inflicted wounds, even in percentage terms, on the entire academic
community, the diligent obedience of the institutions and their representatives, the "silent" reaction of those who
witnessed the immediate and irrevocable expulsion of their colleagues, the difficult and postponed return or non-return
of professors who were victims of the persecution once the war was over.
Keywords: Persecution; Racial laws; University of Turin; Polytechnic of Turin.
“With cold ferocity and ostentatious prejudice”
“Silence” is the word that echoes powerfully in all the current studies of the enforcement of the
racial laws in Italian universities. It was to be defined as “A monstrous curtain of silence”1 by Primo
Levi (in 1938 a student “of the Jewish race” at the University of Turin) referring to “the fate
reserved for Jews in a German Europe”2.
“With cold ferocity and ostentatious prejudice”3 was Levi’s description of the student gossip
about Giacomo Ponzio, professor ordinario of Chimica generale and supervisor for Levi’s thesis in
1941. This was the day some of his students “felt” the gaze of the professor on them when they
were being examined. Jewish professors must have felt the same way about the gazes of their
colleagues at the university at the time they were being put on lists and expelled. The expulsions
were ferocious because they were cold, silent, indifferent, and lacking in official reaction by the
organs and representatives of the University of Turin except for several messages of farewell and
thanks from the presidi of the faculties of Giurisprudenza, Scienze and Lettere recorded in the
faculty-council meetings.
These were expulsions based on acts of prejudice against people whose names were highlighted
in red on the rolls of the University of Turin. Red was the color that marked all the Jewish degree
candidates in the registers of the minutes of their graduation examinations. Red was the color of the
marks that checked off, one by one, all the names of professors “of the Jewish race” listed in the
census imposed by the Ministro dell’Educazione Nazionale, Giuseppe Bottai, in August 1938.
These were the strategies that the administrative offices used to underline the alleged racial
difference. These and the mandatory apposition of the formula, “of the Jewish race,” on all the
diplomas awarded to students, as called for in a circular of Minister Bottai of November 1939.
This was a membership in race that was highlighted, shown off in this case in the census forms
complied by some of the “Aryan” professors at the University of Turin, who in response to the
question at hand, wrote “absolute Aryan” with determination, like Francesco Pastonchi, a very well-
*
Polo delle Scienze Giuridiche, Politiche, Economico-Sociali e Strategiche, University of Turin, Italy, e-mail
.
1
Primo Levi, Il sistema periodico, Einaudi, 2018, chapter Potassio, p. 48.
2
Ibidem.
3
Ivi, chapter Zinco, p. 28.
Trauma and Memory, 2021, Volume 9, no. 2, pp. 55-69. DOI: 10.12869/TM2021-2-03
www.eupsycho.com ISSN 2282-0043
55known professor of Lingua e letteratura italiana at the Faculty of Lettere e Filosofia4. “Of the
Aryan race and the Catholic religion for millennia!” was the answer of Edoardo Audenino, libero
docente of Clinica psichiatrica 5.
The personnel expelled: important numbers and important names
At the end of the 1930s, the University of Turin was the fourth largest university in Italy, after
Rome, Naples and Milan6. There were nine faculties: Agraria, Economia e Commercio, Farmacia,
Giurisprudenza, Lettere e Filosofia, Magistero, Medicina e Chirurgia, Medicina veterinaria,
Scienze matematiche, fisiche e naturali. The Senato Accademico was presided over by rettore Azzo
Azzi, ordinario of Igiene and was made up of the presidi of the faculties. The Consiglio di
Amministrazione was made up of the representatives of the government, the province and the city of
Turin, the Consiglio provinciale delle corporazioni, and the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino bank. In
the 1937-38 academic year, the teaching staff consisted of 75 professors ordinari, 11 straordinari,
28 aiuti and 67 assistenti (tenured personnel). There were also 84 external professori incaricati in
service, chosen from the 393 liberi docenti available7. There were 14 people in the administrative
personnel, and 26 in the technical personnel. There were 93 people who were "personale
subalterno."
On August 9, 1938, the Ministero dell'Educazione Nazionale initiated its “census of the
personnel of the Jewish race” in all the schools, universities, and academies of the kingdom. The
results were collected in a summary/overview and sent to the ministry along with the forms on
September 29. The summary contained the names of 58 people who were Jewish on their father’s
side, 2 on their mother’s side, and 5 people married to Jews, for a total of 65 names. Among these,
one member of the subordinate personnel and 53 professors were expelled between September and
December 1938 – i.e. ca. 8% of the teaching staff at the university8. Actually, this was more than
10% if we consider only the professors ordinari and straordinari, 9 out of 86 in the 1937-38
academic year. The expelled professors included 8 ordinari, 1 straordinario, 5 incaricati, 18 aiuti
and assistenti, and 21 liberi docenti9. The faculties most affected were, in order, Medicina,
Giurisprudenza, Scienze, and Lettere: 32 professors were suspended in the Faculty of Medicina and
9 in Giurisprudenza; 6 professors were expelled in the Faculty of the Scienze and 4 in Lettere; 1
incaricato was expelled in Agraria as well as 1 assistente di ruolo in the Faculty of Economia e
Commercio.
68% of the expelled professors and staff were practicing Jews enrolled in the Jewish community;
22.6% were enrolled in the Jewish community but were-non-practicing Jews; 5.6% were not
enrolled in the Jewish community and did not practice Judaism nor any other religion; 3.7%,
declared that they were practicing Catholics10.
Four assistenti were also expelled, but their names appeared neither in the summary prospective,
nor in the official lists sent by the university to the ministry on September 29, nor in the letter sent
by the ministry to the university October 14, 1938. Nevertheless, these four unknown expelled
4
In 1945 prof. Pastonchi was put on a purge trial for the identification and removal of employees compromised with
Fascism.
5
Annalisa Capristo, L’espulsione degli ebrei dalle accademie italiane, Zamorani, 2002, p. 24 & p. 29; the answers
refer to the forms compiled by the two professors as members of academies and scientific and literary societies. For
Turin Polytechnic, see Ugo Barbetti’s answer. He was an assistente to the chair of Costruzioni idrauliche. “Family
wholly Catholic from the beginning.” (Archivio Storico del Politecnico di Torino, personal file of Ugo Barbetti, racial
form compiled 15.11.1938).
6
Simona Salustri, Un ateneo in camicia nera. L’Università di Bologna negli anni del fascismo, Carocci editore,
2010, p. 158.
7
Archivio Storico dell’Università di Torino (hereafter ASUT), Yearbook of the R. Univ. of Turin 1937-38.
8
The 1937-38 academic Yearbook data was used to calculate the percentages. Assistenti volontari and aiuti were not
counted because they were untenured personnel.
9
Two professori incaricati and nine of the eighteen aiuti and assistenti were also liberi docenti.
10
Percentages calculated for the 53 professors expelled on the basis of the data contained in the summary
prospective of the census sent to the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale September 29 1938.
56assistants were victims of racial persecution, as was Giulio Momigliano Levi, assistente volontario
at the Clinica medica who was “exempted from serving in the position he occupied” 11 by direttore
of Clinica medica
Carlo Gamna, and as were 3 other assistenti whose term contracts were not renewed beginning
with the 1938-39 academic year 12.
There was only one woman among the expelled, Rita Levi-Montalcini. The highest percentage of
people expelled – 31% – were 30-39 years old. 15.5% were 20-29. 12% were 40-49. 20.7% were
50-59. 17.2% were 60-69 and 3.4% were over 70.
Several professors and a female administrative staff member, whose names appear in the
summary prospective of the census of the personnel “of the Jewish race,” managed to avoid being
dismissed from service or being discontinued in positions as liberi docenti. In fact, Law Decree
1728 of November 17, 1938 – Provvedimenti per la difesa della razza italiana / Provisions for the
defense of the Italian race – left the possibility open that the authorities in charge recognize the
“non-belonging to the Jewish race” of persons who conformed to the strictures of Article 8 of the
Decree: “a person is not considered of the Jewish race if he or she was born of parents with Italian
nationality, only one of whom is of the Jewish race, and who belonged to a religion other than
Judaism on October 1, 1938.” Consequently, no provision for suspension or termination of a
position was pronounced for Cristoforo Carlo Giuseppe Colombo and the brothers Virginio and
Ettore Debenedetti,13 whose mothers were not Jewish. There was no action against Mario Toscano,
whose personal file contains his baptismal certificate dated May 2, 192414. Adele Jona, an
administrative staff member, was not expelled. Although she was Jewish on her father’s side, she
was “Aryan” on her mother’s side.
In the Faculty of Giurisprudenza, professors ordinari Samuele Giuseppe Ottolenghi of Diritto
internazionale and Cino Vitta of Diritto amministrativo were expelled. In the Faculty of Scienze
matematiche, fisiche e naturali, Gino Fano and his colleague Alessandro Terracini were expelled.
Fano held the chair of Geometria analitica con elementi di proiettiva e geometria descrittiva con
disegno and Terracini was ordinario of Geometria analitica con elementi di proiettiva descrittiva
con disegno. The courses of the two professors made up a two-year program. In the Faculty of
Lettere e Filosofia, ordinario of Filologia romanza Santorre Debenedetti and ordinario of Storia
medievale Giorgio Falco were expelled along with Arnaldo Momigliano, professor straordinario of
11
ASUT, personal file of Giulio Momigliano Levi, letter from Carlo Gamna, direttore of the Istituto di Clinica
medica generale e terapia medica to rettore Azzi, November 14 1938.
12
The assistenti were Rinaldo Laudi, aiuto volontario from February 1936 at the Clinica chirurgica, also expelled
from the hospital, Ospedale Mauriziano, and killed as a partisan, probably January 1945; Emilio Levi, assistente
straordinario at the Istituto Giuridico from January 1 to July 31 1938; Silvio Segre, assistente volontario 1933-38 at the
Clinica malattie nervose e mentali, who was arrested in Turin in 1942, deported to Auschwitz and did not return. In
addition, libero docente of Patologia speciale medica Davide Giuseppe Diena was arrested in Turin August 29 1944
and was killed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp March 2 1945. See: “Scienza e vergogna. L’Università di Torino
e le leggi razziali,” exhibit at the University of Turin 15 November 2018 - 28 February 2019,
https://scienzaevergognaunito.wordpress.com (accessed 27/11/2018).
13
Ettore Debenedetti, libero docente of Patologia speciale medica, was at first considered of the Jewish race. He
was pronounced dead in June 1939; his disqualification was revoked in August 1939.
14
Dr. Guglielmo Colombo, assistente volontario at the Clinica Pediatrica at the Faculty of Medicina in Oct. and
Dec. 1938 also asked that the provisions of his suspension and dismissal from service be rescinded because he had been
a practicing Catholic since his birth and his mother was not Jewish. Rettore Azzi sent the request to the Ministero
dell’Educazione Nazionale on 27 Dec.1938. Colombo will then submit an application to the Ministero dell’Interno –
Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la Razza on January 23, 1940. The Demorazza Commission recognizes that
the professor and his son Renato do not belong to “the Jewish race”; however the teacher will be resumed on 2
November 1945 (cfr. Archivio centrale dello Stato, Ministero dell’Interno, Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la
Razza, Divisione Razza, fascicoli personali - henceforward ACS, MI, DGDR, DR, FP - b. 292 Colombo Guglielmo e
ACS, Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Direzione Generale dell'Istruzione Superiore, Fascicoli personali dei liberi
docenti, II versamento - henceforward ACS, MPI, DGIS, FPLD, II - b. 133 Colombo Guglielmo).
57Storia romana con esercitazioni di epigrafia romana 15. In the Faculty of Medicina e Chirurgia,
Amedeo Herlitzka and Giuseppe Levi were expelled. Amedeo Herlitzka was a professor of
Fisiologia umana and direttore of the Istituto di Fisiologia. Giuseppe Levi was ordinario of
Anatomia umana normale and teacher of three Nobel Prize winners for medicine – Renato
Dulbecco, Salvador Luria and Rita Levi-Montalcini. In 1938-39 Levi-Montalcini was enrolled in
her second year in the scuola di specializzazione in Psichiatria e Neuropatologia and assistente
volontaria, nominated by the rettore, at the Clinica delle malattie nervose e mentali.
The important names among those expelled from the University of Turin included not only
professors ordinari but also assistenti (among whom was Rita Levi-Montalcini), professori
incaricati (e.g. Guido Fubini-Ghiron, ordinario of Analisi matematica at Turin Polytechnic) and
also liberi docenti, such as the astronomer Giulio Bemporad, who had been working at the
Osservatorio Astronomico at Pino Torinese since 1933 and who was forced to leave in December
1938 because of the racial laws.
Reactions
This was just something that happened, it seemed, something silent except for the emphasis and
the space dedicated to it in the newspapers and magazines of that time.
This was a silence at both extremes. On the one hand, there was the silence of the institution and
the “Aryan” colleagues. On the other hand, there was the silence of the Jewish professors, the
victims of the provisions.
In the minutes of the Senato Accademico of the University of Turin there were no references to
the racial laws or the suspension of personnel “of the Jewish race” – neither in the September 10
session nor in that of October 15. Preside Giovanni Battista Allaria of the Faculty of Medicina e
Chirurgia also assumed the same attitude of public indifference.
Within this context, the Faculties of Giurisprudenza, Scienze and Lettere acted somewhat
differently. All three, in their meetings held on the same date, October 14, 1938, pronounced their
farewells to the colleagues who were affected by the provisions “for the defense of the race,”
naturally, after they had been duly expelled. Thus farewells and thanks represented the only official
response of the University of Turin to the exclusion of its Jewish professors.
At the other extreme, there were the expelled professors. In their case too, they “held their
peace.” Some responded to the farewells and thanks. In the November 14 session, the Preside of
Scienze Alceste Arcangeli “reads the cordial farewells that He [i.e. Arcangeli], interpreting the
sentiments of the Faculty, addressed to the colleagues of the Jewish race […] who were released
from service as of October 16 l. m. [the previous month]. The preside also reads the letters with
which the above-mentioned Professors express their thanks and their farewells to the Faculty”16.
At the time right after the promulgation of the decree, all the faculties accepted the expulsion.
They adapted and took measures to face the problem of the teaching chairs that were vacated as a
result of the racial laws17. The Faculty of Medicina assigned pro tempore professor Herlitzka’s
course of Fisiologia umana to Francesco Paolo Mazza, professor straordinario of Chimica
biologica until 1939-40. For 1940-41 professor Mazza was transferred as ordinario from the chair
of Chimica biologica to that of Fisiologia umana18. By similar means, Giuseppe Levi’s teaching
was assigned to Luigi Bucciante, aiuto and incaricato in the faculty until 1939-40. The following
year, the faculty deliberated that Bucciante be called to teach Anatomia umana normale as a
15
At the time of his expulsion, professor Arnaldo Momigliano needed one more year as professor straordinario
before he could apply for definitive tenure as ordinario. As soon as he was reinstated officially in 1945, he applied for
this.
16
ASUT, minutes of the meeting of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Scienze matematiche, fisiche e naturali from
18/12/1936 to 13/01/1943.
17
Valeria Graffone, Espulsioni immediate. L’Università di Torino e le leggi razziali, 1938, Zamorani, 2018, pp. 97-
108.
18
Prof. Francesco Paolo Mazza died during the war on January 29, 1943, at the age of 38. Thus the Faculty called in
prof. Anna Maria Di Giorgio, ordinaria of Fisiologia at the University of Siena.
58professor straordinario because he had won a recent public competitive exam. However, the
Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale, “maintaining that it is more fit to provide for the chair
through the transfer of a professor who has already reached the rank of ordinario”,19 pronounced
the Ministerial Decree of October 9, 1940. This decree arranged the transfer of the office of
professor Ferdinando Rossi of the University of Bari to that of Turin. Bucciante was thus assigned
to the University of Bari to take Ferdinando Rossi’s place.
The Faculty of Giurisprudenza immediately acted by means of two requests for transfers. For
Diritto Amministrativo (the chair of Cino Vitta), the faculty accepted the application of Pietro
Bodda, ordinario of that subject at the Royal University of Pavia. For Diritto Internazionale (the
chair of Giuseppe Ottolenghi), the faculty accepted the application of Alessandro Passerin
d’Entrèves, ordinario of the Filosofia del diritto also at the Royal University of Pavia.
Already at the beginning of 1939, the Faculty of Scienze requested that new competitions be
opened to fill the chairs vacated by Gino Fano and Alessandro Terracini. To fill the gap until the
end of 1942, the faculty resorted to termed lectureships. In November1942 the faculty appointed the
same person as straordinario that they had nominated as incaricato until the end of 1939-40,20
Pietro Buzano, once a student of Alessandro Terracini21.
When the Faculty of Lettere faced the issue of replacements, it held many sessions until the end
of November 1939, the time when an entire year had passed since the introduction of the racial
laws. The chairs were filled by means of a decree of the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale.
Francesco Cognasso, ordinario of Storia at the Faculty of Magistero, took the place of professor
Falco. Roberto Andreotti, first-place candidate of the job competition at the University of Turin,
was called to substitute Momigliano. Professor Francesco Ugolini, with a similar candidacy, took
Debenedetti’s place.
Students
Royal Law Decree 1390 of September 5, 1938, covered not only Jewish professors but also
Jewish students. It prohibited Jews from enrolling in schools at all levels and allowed only
“attending students” to finish their university studies that they had begun in previous years22. In
1938-39, after the enforcement of the racial laws, only 129 Jewish students remained enrolled out of
a total of 6450 university students. In February 1938, before the provisions, there were 288 Jewish
students. Furthermore, we should realize that, in addition to students who were prevented from
pursuing their studies, there were also the secondary-school graduates who would have wished to
enroll in the university between 1938 and 1945 if the laws “in the defense of the race” had not
denied them this possibility. Among the Jewish students that were pursuing their studies in
preparation for their degrees were Primo Levi, 23 Vanda Maestro,24 and Luciana Nissim25. Rita
Levi-Montalcini was studying to complete her major field of study.
After September 8 1943 Primo Levi took refuge at Amay, where, he, along with Vanda Maestro,
Luciana Nissim, Guido Bachi and Aldo Piacenza, founded a small partisan band affiliated with the
Giustizia e Libertà (“justice and freedom” clandestine political movement). The band was
discovered and the members were arrested. Primo, Vanda and Luciana declared that they were
Jewish and, after a month in prison, they were transferred to a camp in Fossoli and, from there, in
19
ASUT, personal file of Ferdinando Rossi, letter of Rettore Azzi to the Preside of the Faculty of Medicina e
Chirurgia, 19 Oct. 1940.
20
For 1940-41 and probably also 1941-42, teaching was assigned without payment to prof. Tommaso Boggio,
ordinario of Meccanica superiore in the same Faculty.
21
In 1942 Pietro Buzano was one of the three final candidates for the Chair of Geometria analitica con elementi di
proiettiva e geometria descrittiva con disegno at the Univ. of Cagliari. The Faculty of Scienze at Turin decided to call
him as professor straordinario at its meeting of 21/11/1942. After the war, Buzano moved to Turin Polytechnic.
22
This permission was not applicable to German Jewish students.
23
Primo Levi graduated in Chimica from the Univ. of Turin in June 1941.
24
Enrolled in the Faculty of Scienze at the Univ. of Turin in 1936 and graduated in Chimica at Genoa in 1942.
25
Luciana Nissim graduated in Medicina in 1943.
59February 1944 to Auschwitz. Vanda Maestro was sent to the gas chamber at the end of October
1944. Primo Levi was liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945. Luciana Nissim was
transferred to the sub-camp of Hessisch Lichthenau, where she was liberated by the Americans in
April 1945.
A short re-entry, a hard re-entry or no re-entry at all26
In 1945, at the moment that their reinstatement was communicated, many of the expelled
professors found themselves in Italian cities other than Turin or abroad27. Giuseppe Levi and Cino
Vitta were in Florence. Levi’s fellow faculty member Amedeo Herlitzka was Buenos Aires,
Argentina. From the Faculty of Scienze, professor Gino Fano was in Lausanne, Switzerland, and
Alessandro Terracini was in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. Giorgio Falco was living in Rome
and his colleague Arnaldo Momigliano was at Oxford, England.
The re-entry of many of these professors was hard for economic and family-related reasons.
Thus Alessandro Terracini, who was burdened by financial problems, managed to re-enter the
university only at the beginning of 1948. The re-entries of several others were not only hard but also
short. In 1945 Giuseppe Levi and Amedeo Herlitzka were 73 years old and kept their positions for
only two more academic years before they had to retire. Santorre Debenedetti stayed on for only
one year. Gino Fano’s return was even shorter. He will return for only six months.
Then there was the problem of the forced cohabitation of the Jewish professors and the
professors that took their positions at the moment of their expulsion. Initially, the regulation (Royal
Law Decree 301 of October 19, 1944), provided that the Jewish professors had to be re-integrated
exactly in the chair they occupied at the moment of their release, destining their substitutes to
transfers to other chairs or other universities. However, in April 1945, the decree, Provvedimenti
per l’istruzione superiore (provisions for higher education), stipulated the doubling of chairs, or, in
cases where the positions were not available, the re-admission of the reinstated professors in excess
numbers.
In this way, the chairs that Debenedetti, Falco and Momigliano had held were doubled. In the
Faculty of Giurisprudenza, the chair of professor Ottolenghi was doubled even though his
substitute, Alessandro Passerin d’Entrèves, had decided to accept an appointment to the chair of
Studi italiani at the University of Oxford. Along with three professors in the Faculty of Lettere,
Alessandro Terracini was also reinstated in a position “in excess.” His substitute, Pietro Buzano had
transferred to Turin Polytechnic. On the other hand, Anna Maria Di Giorgio,28 the professor who
had covered the position of Amedeo Herlitzka from 1943 on, remained in her position. Thus the
Istituto di Fisiologia was assigned to two professors as co-directors until Herlitzka retired. On the
other hand, when Giuseppe Levi re-entered service at the university, pro rettore Mario Allara
provided that he be reinstated as director of the Istituto di Anatomia that he had formerly directed.
Ferdinando Rossi was obliged to hand over the chair to Levi and transfer to the University of
Genoa. In fact, Rossi’s transfer to Turin in 1940 was revoked by a law decree (Article 17 of the
D.L.L. April 5, 1945, no. 238) because his transfer had lacked the vote of the Faculty of Medicina.
In September 1945 professor Pietro Bodda, who had substituted Cino Vitta in the chair of Diritto
amministrativo, underwent a hearing to purge persons who had compromised themselves with the
Fascist regime. However, he was acquitted of any blame by the ministerial commission for the
purging of university personnel. Cino Vitta, who resumed service again beginning November 1,
1946 was thus excused form teaching and assigned the task of doing research on Diritto pubblico
orientale until he retired two years afterwards.
The re-entry of Arnaldo Momigliano was a case in itself. The youngest of the reinstated
professors, who was 37 in 1945, was only formally reinstated. He officially returned to service at
the University of Turin in the summer of 1946, but from that time on he never taught again at the
26
Valeria Graffone, Espulsioni immediate. L’Università di Torino e le leggi razziali, 1938, cit. pp. 26-29.
27
After their expulsion, 24 of the 58 professors emigrated abroad (41%), some for short periods, others permanently.
28
Di Giorgio stayed on as ordinaria of Fisiologia and incaricata of Chimica biologica.
60university. Instead, he taught in England until 1964, when, after 16 years outside of Italy, he was
invited by the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione to return. Momigliano actually returned to teach
in Italy in 1964-65, not at the University of Turin but at the Superior Normal School at Pisa.
The Royal Turin Polytechnic
In 1937-38 Turin Polytechnic was made up of two faculties – Ingegneria and Architettura. Its
direttore was Giancarlo Vallauri, vice presidente of the Reale Accademia d’Italia. In 1934 he
founded the Istituto Elettrotecnico Nazionale Galileo Ferraris and was ordinario of Elettrotecnica.
Vallauri was then replaced by Aldo Bibolini, professor of Arte mineraria e tecnologie speciali in
November 1938.
At the Polytechnic the teaching staff consisted of 16 professors ordinari, 5 straordinari, 7 aiuti
and 22 assistenti (tenured personnel). There were also 79 external professori incaricati and 38 liberi
docenti. There were 12 in the administrative staff and 9 in the technical staff. There were 19 who
were “personale subalterno.”
There were 736 students enrolled, including 84 foreigners and 8 female students.
On November 15, 1938, Vallauri inaugurated the academic year by reporting on the
developments of the year before and taking his leave from his position as director of the
Polytechnic. On this occasion, he said: “Following the provisions for the defense of the race,
wanted by the Duce in his lofty political judgment, in addition to two assistenti and two professori
incaricati, Professor of Analisi matematica Guido Fubini-Ghiron left his teaching and here should
be remembered”29.
From this research, from the papers preserved in the University’s archive and in the central state
archives, the names of at least 8 professors emerged who certainly were expelled. There were two
other cases of teaching staff who were not publicly cited in official records, but were nonetheless
victims of racial persecution. This amounted to c.5.4% of the teaching personnel at Turin
Polytechnic30.
In the meeting of the Consiglio d’Amministrazione on October 14, 193831, Vallauri had included
some self-employed teaching staff among the "excluded"; later the question of the exemption from
the service of personnel of "Jewish race" was resumed in the session of December 23, in which the
newly appointed direttore Bibolini communicated that Guido Fubini-Ghiron "was exempted from
the service as of December 14" and that the administration of the Polytechnic
must provide for the dispensation from service […] of the Jewish staff included on its payroll
These include:
Piperno prof. Guglielmo, aiuto ordinario, macchine termiche;
Fubini-Ghiron Eng. Gino, assistente ordinario, Costruzioni in legno, ferro e cemento;
Fubini-Ghiron dott. Eugenio, prof. incaricato, Radioricezioni;
Pontecorvo Eng. Paolo, prof. incaricato, misure radiotecniche;
Levi Eng. Franco, assistente straordinario, scienza delle costruzioni.
Eng. Fubini-Ghiron Gino was certainly exonerated from service; dr. Fubini-Ghiron Eugenio and Eng.
Pontecorvo Paolo were no longer entrusted with any teaching; Eng. Levi Franco was no longer
hired as an assistente straordinario.
Of said staff, only prof. Piperno [in addition to the ordinario Guido Fubini-Ghiron], due to his length
of service as an assistente and aiuto, has the right to retirement benefits and severance pay […].
Also suspended the libere docenze of prof. Sacerdote dr Gino and Eng. Treves Scipione.
Of all these communications “the Council takes note”32.
29
Archivio Storico del Politecnico di Torino (henceforward ASPoliTo), Yearbook 1938-39.
30
Data from the 1937-38 Yearbook was used to calculate the percentages. An assistente volontario was not counted
because he was not part of the structured personnel. 7 victims of the law were 20-40 years old, 3 were 50-70 years old.
31
ASPoliTo, minutes of the meeting of the Consiglio di Amministrazione, from July 9, 1937, to December 23, 1938.
32
Ivi, session of December 23, 1938. The underlinings are from the original text.
61In the wake of the promulgation of the decrees “for the defense of the race,” Guido Fubini-
Ghiron, ordinario of Analisi matematica in the Faculty of Ingegneria, was expelled from Turin
Polytechnic along with his two sons – Gino Fubini-Ghiron, assistente ordinario in Costruzioni in
legno, ferro e cemento armato in the Faculty of Ingegneria and Eugenio Fubini-Ghiron, professore
incaricato of Radiotecnica generale: radioricevitori at the Scuola di perfezionamento in
Elettrotecnica Galileo Ferraris.
Three of the professors released were Guglielmo Piperno, aiuto ordinario in Macchine termiche
as well as libero docente and professore incaricato of the same subject for 4th-year Ingegneria civile
students, and professor Paolo Pontecorvo, incaricato of Radiotrasmettitori: misure radiotecniche at
the Istituto Elettrotecnico Galileo Ferraris.
Scipione Treves, aiuto ordinario of Macchine termiche, was released33. Gino Sacerdote was
disqualified from his libera docenza. Professor of Comunicazioni elettriche, he had been capo
Reparto Comunicazioni of the Istituto Elettrotecnico Galileo Ferraris. Beginning in 1937, he was
direttore of the Istituto Nazionale di Elettroacustica O.M.Corbino in Rome34.
The engineer Franco Levi, volunteer assistant at the Resistenza dei materiali laboratory, who had
to take shelter abroad, in France, "to escape the consequences of the racial laws, is not
confirmed”35. At the end of his academic career, Levi himself was to give testimony of what he
experienced in those years:
In 36 I became assistant to Gustavo Colonnetti, the founder of the istituto di metrologia. With the first
wave of racial laws, I took refuge in France. I worked in a chemical factory in Lille, manufacturing
explosives and chemical fertilizers. In 1940 I reached Marseille, in free France, where I specialized in
cosmetics. I was arrested because of my ration card, on which I had written: Aryan. Colonnetti sent me
a false baptismal certificate, but with the official stamp of the fascist censor, a guarantee that saved my
life. The Italian consul in Marseille organized the last train that gave Jews the opportunity to return to
Italy, escorted by the Carabinieri. For six months I worked with Colonnetti again, then we both fled to
Lausanne, finding hospitality on a university campus for refugees”36.
There were two cases where professors who were not mentioned in the minutes but who were
nevertheless subjected to discriminatory norms. The first case is that of Professor Gino Fano,
ordinario of Geometria analitica con elementi di proiettiva e geometria descrittiva con disegno at
the University of Turin as well as incaricato of Geometria descrittiva con disegno at Turin
Polytechnic from 1909-10.
The second case was that of Gabor Dessau, assistente straordinario with a provisional position
33
On June 2, 1939, the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale sent the notice of the revocation of the libera docenza
in Macchine termiche to the Polytechnic of Turin and to the University of Bologna that of the revocation of the libera
docenza in Comunicazioni elettriche (both registered by decree of March 18, 1939 and with effect from December 14,
1938): Scipione Treves had obtained the qualification for libera docenza in Macchine termiche with a ministerial decree
of November 24, 1927, the qualification was then confirmed with the decree of 26 May 1933. The teacher had also held
the Biennial course in Comunicazioni elettriche su filo at the Postgraduate School in Radiocomunicazioni of the
University of Bologna from 1932-33 to 1937-38 [Tecniche dei servizi R.T. course from the Yearbook of the University
of Bologna, academic year 1937-38], obtaining the libera docenza in Comunicazioni elettriche with a ministerial decree
of January 14, 1938 (cfr. ACS, MPI, DGIS, FPLD, II - b. 492 Treves Scipione). At the Polytechnic the professor had
also been authorized to take the course, without payment, in Calcolo degli organi dei motori di aviazione for the year
1938-39 (resolution of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria of 20 May 1938), but in the letter sent on May 31 from
Vallauri to Treves Scipione to inform him of the conferral of the course also for the following academic year, a side
note reports: "teaching duties suspended because of the Jewish race" (see ASPoliTo, personal file of Scipione Treves).
34
In the academic years from 1934-35 to 1937-38, professor Sacerdote had also held series of lectures in Acustica
tecnica (years 1934-35 and 1935-36) and Elettroacustica (years 1936-37 and 1937-38) at the Postgraduate School of
Radiocomunicazioni at the University of Bologna (see University of Bologna Yearbooks for the academic years 1934-
35; 1935-36; 1936-37 and 1937-38 available on https://amshistorica.unibo.it/annuariunibo).
35
ASPoliTo, personal file Franco Levi, 13 June 1957, 26 July 1960, 13 December 1962 – declarations and
certifications of Turin Polytechnic about prof. Franco Levi. Levi was the assistente of prof. Gustavo Colonnetti,
ordinario of Scienza delle Costruzioni at the Faculty of Ingegneria and the only professor at the Polytechnic not to
present himself for service at the constitution of the Italian Social Republic.
36
C.Cer, Il mago del cemento rimpiange il ’68. Franco Levi, 70 anni, ha lasciato l’insegnamento per dedicarsi alla
ricerca, "La Stampa", February 8, 1984.
62from November 1933. Professore incaricato of Giacimenti minerari for 1936-37, he became a
libero docente of the same subject as a result of a decree on March 20, 193737. In all probability,
Dessau did not fil out the racial questionnaire because of “practical” reasons, in so much as he was
working in Addis Ababa as engineer in charge of the Ispettorato generale minerario per l’Africa
Orientale. He was dismissed from this position as a consequence of the “provisions for the defense
of the race in 193938. In any case, his name no longer appeared in the 1938-39 university Yearbook.
The students at the Polytechnic also had to do without the lessons and ingenuity of Alessandro
Terracini, ordinario at the University of Turin, where he taught Geometria analitica con elementi di
proiettiva descrittiva con disegno in the Faculty of Scienze matematiche, fisiche e naturali. As it was
actually a two-year course, the course was held in alternate years - for first and second year students
- by professors Gino Fano and Alessandro Terracini, both ordinari at the University of Turin, both
expelled in 1938 because "of Jewish race ". Polytechnic students, upon specific agreement between
the two universities, attended the course together with university colleagues, sharing lessons,
classrooms and teachers.
A professor at Turin Polytechnic also managed to obtain a recognition of his “non-belonging to
the Jewish race” – Vittorio Morpurgo, professor straordinario of the Faculty of Architettura. From
October 1938 to April 1939, the Ministero dell’Educazione kept on asking him for documents that
proved the nationality of his mother and father. The Ministry wrote in an October 17, 1938 telegram
that this was necessary for “the determination of race”39. On November 2, Morpurgo also handed
over the baptismal certificate of his wife, Wanda Cerioli. In the meantime, Morpurgo asked to
change his last name and use that of his mother, “Ballio”.
Reactions
In the session of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria held on October 7, 1938, preside Panetti
“announces that, in consequence of the Law Decree of September 5 and 7, 1938, […] several
Colleagues must abandon our School; recalls their scientific and didactic accomplishments and
sends them the warmly appreciative greetings of the Council. Vallauri associates himself with the
words of the Preside and wants the Colleagues who are leaving us to be sent the greetings of the
Council and the assurance that the memory of their work remains alive in our spirits as in those of
their disciples. The Council associates itself with the words of the Preside and of H.E. [His
Excellency] the Direttore”40.
On October 25, Vallauri wrote to the suspended professors in order to extend the “warmly
grateful greetings” of the Consiglio di Facoltà. Vallauri wrote personally to Guido Fubini-Ghiron
and Gino Fano, the two oldest teachers among those expelled, but also to the young Eugenio and
Gino, sons of professor Fubini-Ghiron, and to the 29-year-old Paolo Pontecorvo. His farewell
letters are more direct and more personal than those that his successor Bibolini wrote to the
professors Piperno and Sacerdote in June 1939 and also those sent by Azzo Azzi, rettore of the
University of Turin, to some of his teaching staff affected by the racial measures.
Both Bibolini and Azzi used a formula of prepared set phrases to notify the revocation of the
libere docenze. They were formal, impersonal communications. "By order of the Ministero
dell’Educazione Nazionale I inform you that with Ministerial Decree March 18, 1939, you have
been declared forfeited from the libera docenza in COMUNICAZIONI ELETTRICHE [for Gino
Sacerdote] / in MACCHINE TERMICHE [for Guglielmo Piperno] because of Jewish race, with
effect from December 14, 1938 [...]. The Direttore Aldo Bibolini”41.
37
ASPoliTo, personal file of Gabor Dessau.
38
Annalisa Capristo, Il decreto legge del 5 settembre 1938 e le altre norme antiebraiche nelle scuole, nelle
università e nelle accademie in La Rassegna Mensile di Israel, vol. 73, no. 2, 2007, pp. 131-167.
39
ASPoliTo, personal file of Vittorio Morpurgo Ballio, telegram of the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale, signed
by Giustini, the direttore of Turin Polytechnic, 17 Oct. 1938.
40
Ivi, minutes of the meeting of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria, vol. 8-12, 1937-1945.
41
Ivi, personal files of Gino Sacerdote and Guglielmo Piperno, letters of revocation of libera docenza sent by the
direttore Bibolini, June 5 1939. A similar letter had also reached Gino Fubini-Ghiron from Vallauri, who on October 18
informed the young assistente of his suspension from service; this communication was then followed by that of October
25 in which Vallauri inserted his personal greetings and best wishes.
63Azzi did not send any official letter of farewell or thanks to the professors expelled from the
University of Turin, either personally or in the name of the University. To Rita Levi-Montalcini, an
assistente appointed by the Rettore, he wrote on December 5: "I inform you that, in accordance with
art. 8 of the R.D. Law of November 15, 1938 […], I have ordered your dispensation from the
service of Assistente volontaria at the Clinica delle malattie nervose e mentali diseases starting
from December 14, 1938 "42. For the libero docente Stefano Montuori it did not differ, nor did
Bibolini, from the ministerial model: “I inform you that with D.M. March 18, 1939, you have been
declared forfeited from the qualification of libero docente in Fisiologia sperimentale because of
Jewish race, with effect from December 14, 1938”43.
On October 18 Vallauri had already written to professor Guido Fubini “I make it my duty to
share with you that the Consiglio di Amministrazione […] assigned me the task of extending to you
the most heartfelt thanks, to which I add my own personal thanks, for your active and treasured
collaboration as a member of the Council itself and for your long and meritorious work for the
benefit and decorum of this Institute [words in italics handwritten by the direttore]”44. On
November 1, Fubini answered from Paris, where he had moved temporarily to avoid persecution, “I
thank you for the words that you wished to add, and thank you even more for the words you have
addressed me with so courteously. If you hold it opportune, I ask you to express the feelings of my
gratitude to the Consiglio Didattico in my name”45.
Professor Fubini was definitively dismissed from service on December 14, 1938. Already by the
end of October he had moved to Paris, France. From there he asked the Polytechnic’s secretary in
chief to send him several documents that he needed to provide in order to be hired by the Institute
for Advanced Study at Princeton,46 because, as he wrote, “I have to be in New York on January
15”47.
In the meantime, the Polytechnic was taking measures to substitute him. At its October 7, 1938,
session, the Consiglio della Facoltà di Ingegneria assigned Giorgio Palozzi a position as substitute
teacher of Analisi matematica. Palozzi was assistente straordinario and libero docente of the same
subject. Later, at the April 22, 1939, session, the Council deliberated “to bring to the attention of the
Ministry the name of Prof. Carlo Miranda, professor straordinario of the aforementioned subject at
the University of Genoa”48.
Despite the move to the United States, Fubini tried to obtain the only legal exception provided
for by Law Decree no. 1728 of November 17, 1938: Provisions for the defense of the Italian race.
According to Article 14, for those who were included in the category of "discriminated against" for
reasons of "exceptional merit", including in the education and scientific field, the provisions of the
previous articles 10 and 13 lett. h, did not apply: that is to say those persecutory rules that
envisaged limits on real estate property and industrial and commercial activity, effectively denying
"Italian citizens of Jewish race" the right to own land, urban buildings and companies or the
possibility of working in the administrations of private insurance companies and to take part in
military service in time of peace and war.
42
ASUT, personal files of Rita Levi (then Rita Levi-Montalcini), letter from Rettore Azzi with the subject
“Dismissal from service”, December 5 1938.
43
Ivi, personal file of Stefano Montuori, formerly Goldberger, letter from Rettore Azzi with the subject "Forfeiture
of the qualification of libera docenza", June 6 1939.
44
ASPoliTo, personal file of prof. Guido Fubini-Ghiron, communication of direttore Vallauri to prof. Fubini-Ghiron
recognizing his termination of service on behalf of of Consiglio di Amministrazione of Turin Polytechnic 18 Oct. 1938.
45
Ivi, MS letter of prof. Fubini to direttore Vallauri, 1 Nov. 1938. Underlining in original text.
46
Tullio Levi-Civita wrote prof. Oswald Veblen of Princeton directly, asking him to accept Fubini, who “after
Volterra, [is] considered the most incisive and intelligent Italian analyst [appealing to] the scientific and humanitarian
mission of the Institute through your enlightened protection.” Letter, 30 Oct. 1938 translated and put on the site of Univ.
Bocconi, (accessed 16/11/2018).
47
ASPoliTo, personal file of Guido Fubini-Ghiron, MS letter of prof. Fubini sent from Paris to the direttore of the
Secretariat, Nicola Vigna, probably Nov.-Dec. 1938. Prof. Fubini managed to reach New York only in March 1939.
48
Ivi, minutes of the Senato Accademico vol. 1, 1935-1946. The name of Silvio Cinquini was signaled for the chair
of Guido Fubini-Ghiron by Senator Giovanni Gentile.
64For the evaluation of any special merits, a special Commission was initially set up at the
Ministero dell'Interno, later replaced by the so-called Tribunale della Razza; the law furthermore
provided that the benefits could also be extended to family members.
From the documents preserved in the Turin State Archives, database of the National Fascist
Party - Federation of Turin, it appears that the request for exemption for the Fubini-Ghiron family
involved, in addition to the Polytechnic professor, also the sons Gino and Eugenio, his wife Anna
Ghiron and his brother-in-law Angelo Ghiron, who before the anti-Semitic measures had been CEO
of the company "Sorrentino Fratelli e Valenzano SA", engaged in the coal trade49.
For applications for exemption on the grounds of educational and scientific merits, it was the
Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale that had to provide information on the activity carried out by
the applicants, "making known [to the Ministero dell’Interno – Direzione Generale per la
Demografia e la Razza] if the merits […] claimed can be considered of an exceptional nature for
the purposes of the claimed benefit”50.
With regard to Fubini's question, the Minister Bottai replied that "this Ministry [...], within its
competence and without prejudice to the further decisions of this Dicastery, expresses the opinion
that the scientific and educational merits of Fubini Ghiron can be considered adequate to the
purposes of the requested concession”51.
Other Turin academics filed requests for exemption, but the Ministry's "investigation" did not
give the same result as that for professor Fubini. Among the teachers of the Polytechnic, Guglielmo
Piperno, aiuto ordinario, incaricato and libero docente in Macchine termiche, also applied. In a long
letter dated February 7, 1939, he asked that his teaching and scientific activity and the work in favour of the
national fascist party, which he joined on October 29, 1932, be examined52. For the educational and
scientific merits, the direttore Bibolini reported that the activity carried out "CANNOT be considered [...] of
an exceptional nature to the effects of the exemption for which he has applied" and consequently the
Ministro dell’Educazione Nazionale "assumes the unfavorable judgment expressed by the Direttore of the
R. Polytechnic of Turin”53. The Prefect of Turin also gave an opinion contrary to the acceptance of the
request, declaring that the teacher "has no military qualifications, nor merits of a political nature"; the
federal secretary of Turin Piero Gazzotti also expressed a negative opinion: "Piperno [...] did not acquire
49
Archivio di Stato di Torino (henceforward ASTo), Partito nazionale fascista – Federazione di Torino, Fubini Gino
- File no. 32505; Ghiron Angelo – File no. 4533.
50
ACS, MPI, DGIS, Fascicoli personali dei professori ordinari, III versamento (henceforward ACS, MPI, DGIS,
FPPO, III), b. 214 Fubini-Ghiron Guido, letter from the Ministero dell’Interno – Direzione Generale per la Demografia
e la Razza to the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale – Direzione Generale dell’Istruzione Superiore with the subject
"Fubini Ghiron Guido. Exemption”, May 14, 1940. The exemption card available to the Commission, on which the date
of the session and the final resolution adopted against the applicant were also noted, provided for a first part with
personal details and family status; a central part with data on professed religion, possible registration with the P.N.F.
and any military and civil merits acquired; a third and final part in which the opinion of the Prefect and the National
Fascist Federation-Turin and the final one of the Commission were recorded.
51
Ivi, reply of the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale to the Ministero dell’Interno, September 14, 1940. From the
file of Gino Fubini-Ghiron preserved in the State Archives of Turin, it would seem that the members of the Fubini-
Ghiron family "request exemption but in vain» cfr. ASTo, National Fascist Party - Federation of Turin, Fubini Gino -
File no. 32505, https://Archividistatotorino.beniculturali.it/naviga-patrimonio/progetti/pnf-federazione-torino (accessed
on May 4, 2021). Some assets of the Fubini-Ghiron family were to be expropriated and entrusted to the property
management and liquidation body – EGELI – following the Legislative Decree of the Duce [head of the Italian Social
Republic] of January 4, 1944, no. 2, Nuove disposizioni concernenti i beni posseduti dai cittadini di razza ebraica/New
provisions concerning assets owned by citizens of Jewish race.
52
ACS, MI, DGDR, DR, FP, b. 135 Piperno Guglielmo, request for discrimination sent to the Ministero dell’Interno
- Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la Razza, February 7 1939. For registration with the national fascist party,
see the letter from the federal secretary of the national fascist party - federation of Turin Piero Gazzotti to the prefect
Carlo Tiengo (prefect in Turin from August 16, 1938 to February 1, 1941) with the subject “Application for
discrimination. Guglielmo Piperno”, July 19, 1939 and the letter from the Prefecture of Turin to the Ministero
dell’Interno - Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la Razza with the subject" Application for discrimination.
Guglielmo Piperno was Giuseppe”, August 7 1939.
53
Ivi, letter from the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale to the Ministero dell’Interno – Direzione Generale per la
Demografia e la Razza with the subject "Piperno Dr. Guglielmo. Exemption”, October 3, 1940.
65any merit in the political field that would make him worthy of obtaining the coveted exemption.”54
Scipione Treves, libero docente in Macchine termiche and Comunicazioni elettriche, holder of the
Telefonia course at the Istituto tecnico industriale Delpiano and various positions held in the telephony and
electrical engineering industry, also applied. To the letter sent to the Ministero degli Interni on November
21, 1938, he attached a long report to present his technical and scientific activity, the military service he
carried out not yet eighteen years old in the war campaign of 1918, his activity as head of the radio-
telegraph-engineers group- film technicians of the engineers union, honours and references. In this memo
he referred to the award obtained by the Reale Accademia d’Italia for his three-volume teaching manual
“Corso di telefonia”, to his enrollment in the national fascist party from May 1, 1925, and, regarding the
nomination for a libere docenze, he wrote: “Libero docente (appointed by the Commission completely
made up of Aryan professors) in macchine termiche with D.M. of November 24, 1927, and definitively
confirmed after the five-year term, on the proposal of the Consiglio Accademico of the Polytechnic of Turin
[…]; another lectureship (conferred by the Commission, also completely made up of Aryan professors) in
comunicazioni elettriche by D.M. of January 14, 1938”55. Scipione's father, the journalist Giuseppe Moise
Treves, wrote personally to Rachele Guidi Mussolini to ask for her intercession in favour of his son; he also
wrote to Umberto di Savoia, Prince of Piedmont, to ask him to speak with Buffarini Guidi. In December
1941, Scipione Treves, still awaiting the outcome of the application, sent "to further complement the
application for exemption presented in November 1938", the notarial copies of the decrees by which the
rank of Lieutenant was conferred on his maternal grandfather Scipione Calabi in the National Guard of
Verona between 1867 and 186956.
The Prefect of Turin repeatedly gave an opinion contrary to the acceptance of the request, citing also the
negative opinion of the Federal Secretary57. In September 1940, the Ministero dell’Interno asked the
Prefecture for some clarification on the date of registration with the P.N.F. and on the attitude held by
Treves during the Quartarellian period58. The Prefect replied on January 13, 1941:
It appears [...] that Treves, professor, industrial engineer, technical consultant for a limited company,
publicist, had all the convenience of being immediately in possession of the P.N.F membership card. -
However, during the Quartarellian period, he refrained from any overt attitude so as not to compromise himself
with acts or manifestations of thought that could harm his solid social and economic position.
After the acute period 1924 - beginning of 1925, the applicant, not least because of his intimate relationship
with the co-religionist Avv. Gino Olivetti, at that time member of Parliament and lobbyist of Turin and national
industry, saw with the business flair of his class the convenience of owning the P.N.F membership card to use it
as a safe-conduct pass and all-purpose permit for his various dealings.
The request for the card was his first and only manifestation (…) of thought.
In fact, it turns out that, despite his wealth (achieved with a truly strange speed) he did not give the Party the
slightest contribution of money, aid or work.
I therefore fully confirm the negative opinion already expressed […]59.
54
Ivi, letter from the Prefecture of Turin to the Ministero dell’Interno – Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la
Razza with the subject "Application for exemption. Guglielmo Piperno formerly Giuseppe”, August 7 1939 and letter
from the federal secretary of the national fascist party - federation of the combat squads of Turin - Piero Gazzotti to the
Prefect of Turin with the subject “Application for exemption. Guglielmo Piperno”, July 19 1939.
55
ACS, MI, DGDR, DR, FP, b. 30 Treves Scipione, request for exemption sent by prof. Treves to the Direzione
Generale per la Demografia e la Razza, November 21, 1938.
56
Ivi, letter from Scipione Treves to the Ministero dell’Interno – Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la Razza,
December 22 1941.
57
Ivi, letters from the Prefect of Turin to the Ministero dell’Interno – Direzione Generale per la Demografia e la
Razza, March 22, 1939 and May 26, 1939.
58
In reference to the period of the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, kidnapped on June 10 1931 and found dead the
following August 16 on an estate in the Quartarella scrubland, near Riano Flaminio.
59
ACS, MI, DGDR, DR, FP, b. 30 Treves Scipione, reply from the Prefect of Turin to the Demorazza with the
subject “Treves Scipione di Giuseppe - exemption”, 13 January 1941.
66Substitutions and vacant professorships
In the aforementioned session of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria on October 7, 1938, it was
debated whether to entrust the chair of Geometria descrittiva con disegno, which had been held by
Gino Fano, to dr. Eng. Eugenio Frola, libero docente of Scienza delle costruzioni and assistente
ordinario of Analisi algebrica in the Faculty of Scienze at the University of Turin60.
During the session, the name of Pietro Buzano, assistente and libero docente in Geometria
analitica at the University of Turin, also emerged as a possible replacement for professor
Fano. The course in Geometria analitica held at the University of Turin, upon specific
agreement between the universities, was also attended by students of the Polytechnic. Once
Fano and Terracini had been removed, the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria decided to
provide for the subject with internal staff at the Polytechnic, assigning the task to someone
who gives “confidence to know how to keep teaching at the level that is appropriate for [...]
the Institute”61. The person chosen was Aldo Ghizzetti, former aiuto ordinario of Analisi
matematica e geometrie at the Faculty. From November 1, 1940, Ghizzetti asked to be placed on
leave for study reasons, wanting to carry out consultancy activities in Rome, at the Istituto
nazionale per le applicazioni within the CNR. Teaching was therefore entrusted to Rinaldo Perassi,
assistente di ruolo of the same subject, “as there is no way to proceed otherwise”62. But in the
Summer of 1941 Perassi was called to arms, Eugenio Frola, already in charge of Geometria
descrittiva from 1938-39, took over the teaching of Geometria analitica. Frola was to hold the
course in 1941-42 and also in the following years63. The loss of Fano as head of Geometria
descrittiva and as holder of the two-year course in Geometria analitica at the University of
Turin (a course he held together with Alessandro Terracini and which engineering students
could attend with colleagues from the Faculty of Scienze), created many problems at the
Polytechnic – with no easy solutions. Initially, the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria
for Geometria analitica e proiettiva and for Geometria descrittiva, believes it appropriate that
separate appointments be made because they are carried out, every year, in parallel in the
two courses of the two-year preparatory course, and each requires a number of hours of
lessons and exercises that are too considerable for one person64.
Hence the decision to entrust the teaching of Geometria descrittiva to Frola and that of
Geometria analitica to Ghizzetti. But, following Ghizzetti's request for a leave of absence, who was
replaced by Perassi, in his turn called to arms, in 1941 the University was forced to entrust both
courses to the libero docente Eugenio Frola. Despite attempts at a new agreement with the
University, made by Carlo Miranda, ordinario of Analisi matematica and substitute for Guido
Fubini-Ghiron, things did not go well65.
60
In the Turin Polytechnic Yearbook of the academic year 1937-38, Dr. Frola was classified as a libero docente in
Perfezionamento sulle costruzioni in acciaio and assistente volontario in Costruzioni in legno, ferro e cemento armato,
Faculty of Ingegneria. The assignment of Geometria descrittiva con disegno was to be confirmed in subsequent years,
after the end of the world war. Frola also replaced Bonaparte Colombo, expelled from the University of Turin, Faculty
of Scienze, in the post of Matematiche complementari for the academic year 1939-40.
61
ASPoliTo, minutes of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria, volumes 8-12, years 1937-1945, session of October
7 1938 and ACS, MPI, DGIS, Miscellanea di Divisioni Diverse I-II-III (1929-1945), b. 98 bis, f. Torino Incarichi
Politecnico di Torino 1938-39.
62
ASPoliTo, Minutes of the Senato Accademico of the Polytechnic of Turin, meeting of 20 November 20 1940.
63
ACS, MPI, DGIS, Commissioni libere docenze, incarichi, corsi di cultura militare (1935-1949), b. 30, f. Torino
Incarichi Politecnico di Torino 1942-43 and ASPoliTo, Yearbook for the academic years from 1941-42 to 1947-48.
Only one Yearbook was published for the years 1941-42 to 1947-48.
64
Ivi, minutes of the Consiglio di Facoltà di Ingegneria, volumes 8-12, years 1937-1945, session of 7 October 1938.
The underlinings are from the original text.
65
Ivi, session of June 19 1941, also in ACS, MPI, DGIS, Commissioni libere docenze, incarichi, corsi di cultura
militare (1935-1949), b. 27, f. Torino Incarichi Politecnico di Torino 1941-42. Miranda was then to be transferred with
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